A Fish out of water
posted 17 Nov 2011
As my alarm rang at 5.55am on a Thursday in September, I automatically questioned my keenness for signing up to the ABC Charity Sailing Cup. After a long early morning train journey, we finally made it to our destination (Portsmouth) and a distinct nervousness also kicked in. I was a complete sailing novice whose only experience on boats was sitting down and eating ice-cream – two things which the day ahead certainly would not involve!
Our merry team of Quant Fish, Qual Fish, Film Fish, Field Fish, New Business Fish and Accounts Fish were taken to our boat (a 40ft yacht called Lancelot) handed a steaming bacon roll, and given a crash course on sailing. It was like our Skipper for the day was talking a whole new language – spinnakers, booms, 5 colours of rope, jibs, tacs and other such phrases I’d never heard before. The two things I remembered were to duck if someone says “duck!”, and try not to fall into the sea.
And so, Lancelot lurched from the wharf out to sea, and for the first few hours we hoisted sails, winched ropes and steered our way to the first destination of the day. We cut our first tack (when the boat needs to change direction) down from 56 seconds, to just 30 – by which time our competitive spirit was in full force. And, split into 4 teams, we had got to grips with our new environment, a world away from a normal Thursday in the office.
After an absurdly massive lunch (all the cake, crisps and bread you could wish for) and an innocent swig of rum (purely medicinal, of course) we started to get in position for our first race of the day. My sailing naivety kicked in once more as I realised the race actually begins before the horn blows – as there’s no ‘starting line’ to equal the playing field, but instead each boat tries to get to the best position possible by the start boat.
The horn blew and our first race began – with John and Jem at the helm, Rachel, Francis and I as the Genoa crew (I still have no idea why we were called that) and Martin, Martyn, Julia and Gemma switching between hoisting and changing sails and providing ballast. It was great fun and incredibly exciting, and it was only when we were racing that I realised the real skill needed in sailing – knowing when to raise different sails, where to sail the boat in relation to others, and how to ‘play’ the wind. Everyone worked really hard to carry out their role as best as possible and no-one fell into the sea and so although we placed 3rd, I felt like we had won!
The second and third races were equally hard work and fun. Those scrambling over the boat during tacs didn’t complain once, even though their knees had begun to take on a shade of purply-greeny-grey. And neither race was without drama, as the wind picked up, spinnaker sails got twisted, and we battled head to head with other boats for third and fourth place.
By the end of the last race, exhaustion had really started to kick in, and secret 2 minute naps were stolen by most whilst sitting on the side of the boat between manoeuvres. We passed the finish line, and I felt there was a team sigh of relief as we knew our work was done for the day. As we pulled back into the Wharf I felt a great mix of weariness, satisfaction and (though embarrassing to admit) pride. We’d started out in the morning as bleary eyed entirely novice (bar Jem and John) individuals and we’d finished as a great Firefish team, who, although slightly windburned and bruised, knew how to cut a fine jib!
Results of the day? My competitive side would like to argue we’d won as we were the only novice boat. But a place as 4th was good enough in the end.
It was a great day, for a great cause and I would recommend it to anyone with a sense of adventure and a penchant for getting out there and getting stuck in. If you fancy getting a team together for next year and sailing the high(ish) seas with us, or maybe do some other great charity activity, then check out http://www.helenanddouglas.org.uk/ and have fun while raising some money.
DAY IN THE LIFE OF A FIREFISH FIELDIE
posted 1 Mar 2011
“TEA ANYONE!?” usually snaps me into my day as a fieldie at Firefish! The journey from my cosy bed in East London to the Firefish office in SE1 is usually an auto-pilot experience; it isn’t until I switch on my laptop, and have a cuppa that my day really begins.
Emails are my first point of call, to see how my jobs are going, or if there are any developments / queries on my projects. Continual checking and rechecking is all part of the job – it is how we ensure we get the best respondents out there.
I usually keep in mind which of my projects are currently in the fieldwork stage, and send out feedback emails to our researchers. As a team, we aim to do this the morning after the fieldwork, to get a fresh take on the recruitment. This is a really important part of my day, as it helps in tightening up our screeners and ensuring we get a high standard of respondent every time. Sometimes feedback can impact how I plan the rest of my morning. The morning is usually the best time to catch recruiters, so I usually work around this and if I know I have follow-up calls or checks on recruitment to make, I’ll work this into my morning plan.
Depending on the stage of my projects, I will either spend the rest of my day ensuring the smooth running of my jobs or start-up newly commissioned projects. This can include anything from screener writing to client briefings; making sure that both the researchers and recruiters are happy.
Towards the end of the day I’ll focus on my most urgent tasks, whether this is getting paperwork ready to go out in the 4:30pm post, or finishing my timesheets in time for after-work drinks on a Friday!. Being a fieldie requires great organisational and planning skills; something our team prides itself on...a finely tuned field machine.
All in all, every day is a busy one. Weeks usually fly by, and we’ll speak about how a job is “miles away” and, before you know it, it’s next week! In a way, that’s what I enjoy about being part of the field team; the variety of work that Firefish take on is great! It keeps my job fresh, with lots of new learnings at a fast pace. I know as a team we enjoy our work and, even though we’re busy, we still laugh a lot and make sure we support each other through each and every project. It is what gets me out of that cosy bed every weekday morning.
Movember
posted 17 Dec 2010
Some of the Firefish chaps took part in Movember and became Mo Bro’s for the month. As you can see, there was a wide range of styles going on, from the Chopper Harris-esque to the pencil-thin Poirot...but it ain’t about the style, it’s about the awareness. It was most certainly a talking point, and we here at Firefish (Mo Sistas included) all feel very proud that we managed to raise awareness for a great cause, as well as pocketing them £2671.93 in the process.
The totals by country can be seen over at http://uk.movember.com/momoney/. A staggering £8.6m from the UK alone...so if you are a fellow Mo Bro, we salute you! Thanks to all those that donated and helped spread the word about this great cause...and thanks to our satellite Mo Bro, Gavin for getting involved all the way from his countryside studio. Didn’t get any funny looks on the tube though did, he?
2010
posted 17 Dec 2010Firefish’s year kicked off in January with our 10th Birthday Party. As well as looking back over the past 10 years, we were looking forward to this year and wondering what it would hold. Though our expectations were high, from my perspective now at the far end of the year, it has far exceeded all of them. 2010 has been an outstanding year, on many levels. Firefish is about 3 main things: our work, our clients and our talented team, and this year we have excelled in all of these areas.
We have always striven to do work that makes us proud. And, fresh from the 2010 Research Awards Ceremony, where we were shortlisted for more awards (7) than any other agency, won more awards (3) than any other agency, it is great to see that the quality of what we do is recognised across the industry. You can read more about the awards by viewing the book of the evening here. And 2011 see the full launch of our Quant department, which is already bringing an exciting new dimension to our offer.
Our clients are the best clients an agency could wish to have. We have deepened our relationships with many, developed our relationships with others, and forged new relationships with some cracking brands: Heinz, Flora and Mars to name but a few. A heartfelt thanks to all the wonderful people we work with. We look forward to getting even better for you in 2011.
And to the fantastic team of people that is Firefish: thank you too. Our team has grown hugely and continues to do so but still retains its character as the best, brightest, most passionate, hardest working and most fun group of people in the industry. I find it hugely satisfying working as part of such a talented group; long may it continue.
A couple have things have happened in my year too: I got married, and by the time this hits your in-boxes, I will very likely be the father of one of the next generation of firefishes. While I take some time off to welcome the new arrival, I wish everyone a very Happy Christmas and New Year, and hope that our paths cross in 2011.
Jem Fawcus
CEO
Fish arriving in numbers
posted 15 Oct 2010Fish arriving in numbers
As Firefish’s most recent recruit and leader of our new quantitative division, it’s my mission to break the mould of what my dear quallie comrades imagine a quantie should look like, be like and think like. Not for me the brown suit of their dreams! I arrived without a calculator (luckily, I’m sitting not far from our Financial Controller so can nick his) and with all my stats crib notes firmly in their Iron Mountain box at home. (I have them all scanned and on my hard drive instead.....)
In fact, Firefish is the most accepting of environments and is perfect if you’re prepared to think strategically, be flexible, have a point of view about brands and communications and are happy to pipe up about it. It’s an energising place and I think that spills over into how clients experience us.
As far as the image goes, it’s the rigidity of how a lot of quantitative research is conducted nowadays – based on fixed products, locked-down systems and low-cost provision – that is the culprit here. This has led many quant researchers to have a very narrow field of vision and experience, which is not always helpful when trying to be creative and resourceful – key qualities highly prized among quallies. But give quant researchers a broader horizon and base of experience, and expose them to some relevant and useful models of thinking; and they’ll learn more about brands and people in six months in a qual/quant setting than they will in six years in an exclusively quant environment. I’ve seen it – having spent just about all of my career trying to bring qual and quant together, to help improve what clients get from research.
It goes almost without saying that the vision for our quant division is to avoid unnecessary rigidity (although it will have necessary rigour). It will be enabling, intelligent, not shackled by constrained or outmoded thinking, complementary to qual and starting from an informed basis of how people make sense of the world around them and use brands in their lives.
Now, off to shave off that beard and hide those sandals.....